Soft Solace
by Honigkuchenpferdchen
Summary: Gerome had never been good at comforting, but he has to protect his sister, hasn't he?


**A/N: A little tribute to Gerome and Morgan as siblings because I simply love those two.**

****Feel free to point out all mistakes you come across.****

* * *

It was dark outside and rain was pattering against the windows. Gerome was sitting in an armchair at the fireplace and sewed. His mother sat in an armchair opposite to him, doing the same. Aside from the crackling of the fire and the rain, it was silent. Suddenly, the door was opened carefully and Morgan peeked around the corner.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, starring ashamed at the floor. "I can't sleep."

Cherche smiled warmly and patted on her lap. "It's okay, darling. Everything is alright. Come here."

Morgan did so and crawled into her lap. Then she looked curiously at her older brother. "What are you doing there?" she asked.

"I'm sewing," Gerome replied, still concentrated on his work.

"I see." Morgan leaned back and Cherche put her work aside to stroke her gently. They were quiet for a while again and Morgan had almost closed her eyes and fallen asleep when she abruptly sat up. "But the other kids say sewing and cooking and all that stuff is something only girls do."

Gerome froze in surprise before he stared angrily at his little sister. He could feel his cheeks heaten up, much to his annoyance.

"Other people also say that only boys can fight, but I am fighting too," Cherche argued quickly. "There are also many other women in the Ylissean Army. So when girls can do fighting, why shouldn't boys be able to sew as well?"

Morgan thought about it for a moment and then relaxed again. "I guess you are right. Besides," she leaned closer and examined Gerome's work, "it looks really good."

Gerome snorted. First, his silly little sister was mocking him and then, from one second to another, she praised him? He would never be able to understand her.

Morgan giggled. "If I tried this, my fingers would probably look like an army of hedgehogs had rolled across them."

Cherche smiled. "Well, he already had a lot of practice, but I think you're right nonetheless." She went back to running her fingers through Morgan's hair. Her look soon seemed to get lost in the fire. "You know," she murmured, "I think if you insist on learning how to break things properly, you should also learn how to fix other things, because you can't live your life by just slaying everything that is in your way. You also have to repair things that are important to you, and even create new things that please you." Her smile deepened. "I'm so glad you two taught me this."

* * *

"Hey, Gerome?"

Gerome looked irritated at his little sister. "What is wrong?" he asked.

Morgan simply held up her sleeve as a response. Gerome inspected it frowning. It had a big hole in it, which edges were deep black and definitely burned.

"Just what were you doing?" His tone was sharper than he had intended it to be.

Morgan flinched. "I was toying with the fire tomes," she whispered. "The fire suddenly got out of control, but I managed to extinguish it. I think I should be glad it only burned my sleeve. But still..." Her voice faded away more and more. "I'm afraid Mom and Dad will be angry if they find out. Please," she looked up to Gerome, "can't you do something about it? I beg you!"

Gerome sighed. It was only natural that children formed alliances among each other and kept things hidden from the adults, wasn't it? And Morgan was his sister. He couldn't abandon her.

"If you promise to not touch the tomes again unless father is around to teach you," he replied.

By now Morgan had started shaking and tears appeared at the corners of her eyes. "O-Of course! Of course I won't do this anymore. Please believe me!"

Gerome took out his sewing kit and smiled calming at her. "Hey, hey, take it easy. There's no need to worry, I will fix that for you."

Morgan returned the smile, took off her coat and then sat on Gerome's bed to wait for the time he had finished. Gerome searched for a patch large enough to cover the hole. When he had found one, he threaded a needle and started with sewing the seams together with black thread. Morgan watched him interested and with attentive eyes.

* * *

Gerome picked up the bucket and set out for the stables where he was welcomed by an impatient waiting Minvera. She let out an angry shriek because of his late arrival and started to dig into the food immediately. Gerome couldn't help but smile at this cute sight and patted the wyvern's scales dreamy.

"Gerome!" The loud voice of his little sister awakened him brutally from his daydreams. He turned away from Minvera and found Morgan running towards him, a bright smile on her face. As soon as she saw that he noticed her, she began to wave enthusiastically. When she arrived, Minvera welcomed her with a shriek, while Gerome shifted from one foot to the other awkwardly. Morgan looked from Minvera to Gerome and back, still a little out of breath. "I thought you could maybe give me a ride on Minvera," she finally sputtered. "It's been such a long time since we have done it the last time and because you're free tod- oh!" Her attention stayed at Minvera who had already finished her meal and looked quite tired by now. It was only for a short moment Gerome imagined his sister to grin, but she immediately stared at him with a forceful expression. "When did you do this?" she asked and pointed at the bib around Minvera's neck. Then it seems like she couldn't hold back anymore and a wide smile spread across her face. "It's totally lovely. You did this yourself, didn't you?"

"Y-Yeah," Gerome mumbled. "For a wyvern as cute as Minervykins, only cute things are suitable. Besides, whenever we would give her this puree she loves, she would splash about and her scales would have to be cleaned. So I thought this would be easier."

"Right," Morgan replied. She had gone over to touching the bib, even though Minerva looked as if she would like to bit her head off if she wasn't part of the family and she had already grown accustomed to her being curious and straight forward. "You're really good at this, you know," she said softly. "You're always giving your all with this kind of things. You've put all your lifeblood in this one, haven't you? You're so caring!"

"Stop it already!" Gerome grabbed her head and ruffled her hair, which made her laugh quietly.

"I wasn't joking," she smiled. "And seriously, where did you get those frills?"

* * *

Morgan's loud sobs were likely to be heard across the whole country from Gerome's point of view. He stood beside his little sister and had no idea how to calm her down. She had fallen and scratched her knee on small sharp stones. The wound bled a little and because of the suddenness and the shock, Morgan seemed to couldn't help it but start crying. Gerome's thoughts were spinning. He had to do something. He had to comfort her and her wound had to be threatened. Carefully, he crouched down beside Morgan and tried to call her attention to him with silent "ssh"s. Though it worked and Morgan looked up to him, it didn't stop her wailing.

"Listen now," Gerome finally managed to say, though it felt like Morgan couldn't be able to listen because her sobs were simply too loud. "I will carry you back to mother," he almost shouted. Because there was no replay from her, he simply pulled her up by an arm and supported her so she had to move as little as possible. It was really unfortunate that they had played on the meadow outside of the town without Minerva today of all days. Gerome had to carry her all the way back home. Despite the fact that Morgan's howls died down, she was still crying when they arrived and her face looked terribly because of all the wet traces that were proof of her tears.

"Mother!" Gerome called. Then he said to Morgan, "I'll leave you alone for a moment and look for mother, got that? So don't move." Morgan sniffed one time but nodded desperately. Luckily, Cherche must have already heard them because she came running towards the two, a worried look on her face. As soon as she arrived and saw what happened, she let herself fall onto her knees, drew Morgan into her arms and started rocking her back and forth. While mumbling soothing trivialities, her eyes quickly inspected the wound, which didn't stop her from comforting her daughter.

Gerome simply stood next to them and watched. He felt completely useless. Showing things like sympathy had always been something he wasn't good at, but he hadn't even been able to help his own little sister. It was one thing he couldn't protect her from getting hurt, but it was yet another thing he couldn't correct his own mistakes and tidy up the mess he had caused. Looking at his mother and how natural it seemed for her to comfort someone like this, his throat tightened. He wasn't good at sewing, neither at repairing damaged things nor at creating new ones, even though Morgan had told him otherwise. However, he absolutely wouldn't let the things he already had be taken from him.

* * *

Their bond was shattered when they travelled back in time.

He had been glad when he heard that Morgan was found too and was now in safety, because he had promised to look after her and protect her when their parents died. He was brought back down to earth however when he learned that she apparently had lost her memories and could remember nothing of her life but their father. Despite her being as cheerful and talkative as ever, their relationship obviously wasn't the same anymore due to the fact that he was a complete stranger to her now. While they were still family by blood it didn't felt like it. When Gerome wouldn't mind the lookalikes of their parents staying away from him and having as less contact as possible with them, being neglected by Morgan hurt.

Though they kept a distance, one night after Gerome had taken care of Minvera, he decided to drop by and visit her on a whim. Morgan was still awake. She sat on her bed, gazing distantly into space. When Gerome approached the entry of the tent carefully, however, she looked up. A forced smile appeared on her face.

"Hi Gerome. Want something from me?"

An awkward silence followed where both simply stared at each other. Gerome felt like the right words to say slipped away just the second they had come to his mind. He looked into the eyes of his sister and saw a sudden sorrow leaking out of them which didn't fit the girl he had known back then. Though he wanted to forget the past as much as everyone else, it still seemed like a severe price to pay to completely give it up. And even though Morgan's cheerful personality remained, it was now about to be taken from him too.

He really wasn't good at this things. Every fibre of his body seemed to say that as he took a few steps inside the tent and sat down next to Morgan, who looked surprised up to him. He knew those moments. Those moments of desperation where everything felt pointless, the future would glow dark, the shadows of the past would finally catch you and drown you. He had those too, but he kept it hidden, it was one of the reasons he wore a mask. When such a moment hit you, the best way to make it go away was to have another person encourage you, he knew as much. He hadn't had such a person anymore since the death of their parents. However, it was his task as the older brother to be such a person for his needy sister.

Feeling suddenly nervous, he slowly lifted his arm and put it around Morgan's shoulders. Because no response came from her, he gathered all his courage and pulled her close, so that her head got buried in his chest. Stunned, her eyes searched for an answer in his face, though they couldn't find any due to his mask. He wasn't able to take that off yet. He just held her, not speaking anything, but slowly, very slowly, he started rocking back and forth. Morgan's tense body immediately relaxed and he knew he had done something right. He could just hope it was enough to make her sadness go away.

He wouldn't let any desperation take away his sister as long as they lived. Although he couldn't fully repair the bond they had shared, it did - though he would never admit it - _please_ him to hold Morgan like this, being able to convey at least a little spark of hope.

Because Morgan had closed her eyes by now and started to breathe consistently, everything would surely be fine and as it used to be by tomorrow. He would just wait for the next day.


End file.
